TLC are making a comeback with Kickstarter campaign for fifth and final album

One of our favourite girl bands of the 90s is reuniting as a duo, after a 13-year hiatus.

In what is possibly the greatest news of this month, TLC has announced plans to record a fifth and final album via a Kickstarter campaign, in response to "overwhelming" demand from fans.

The legendary group last hit the charts in 2002 with their album 3D, which was released six months after the death of founding member Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes aged 30 in a car crash.

TLC's remaining two singers, Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins, 44, and Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas, 43, will now perform as a duo for the first time.

TLC’s T-Boz and Chilli are set for a comeback

TLC have sold 65 million records worldwide and their album CrazySexyCool, which celebrates its 20th anniversary last year, remains the highest-selling album by a female group in the United States. The group's 2013 TV movie CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story attracted 4.5 million viewers when it aired on VH1, proving their enduring nostalgic appeal.

"I got on Twitter later than most. I already had fans asking, 'When are you coming back? We need more music!'", said Chilli, 43, in a new interview about the comeback with Billboard.com. "Then once our biopic came out, the requests were just overwhelming. Fans have even been sending ideas for what they want a new album cover to look like -- they get so creative. They have so much love for us, and we thought, 'We gotta do this, and we have to involve the fans.'

"We did our research, met with the people at Kickstarter - they are brilliant, and they're excited to work with us. We feel very good about this collaboration."

Asked whether the band would involve Left Eye in the album in any way - perhaps in the form of unreleased recordings - Chilli replied; "Probably not, but I'm not going to say "no" because we're open to it. But at the end of the day, everyone knows how much we love our sister. You go to our show, you feel her presence."

"We wouldn’t dream of making our final album with anyone BUT our fans. Come on y'all, BE A PART OF TLC HISTORY!" reads a statement on the group's Kickstarter page.

TLC in their early years

With iconic hits such as No Scrubs, Waterfalls and Creep, TLC pretty much formed the soundtrack of our teen years, so news of a reunion is music to our ears.

As well as performing some of the most enduringly popular and catchiest tracks around, the band has a wealth of fascinating facts to its name.

Just as each of the girl’s names made up part of the group’s acronym TLC - T-Boz, Left Eye, Chilli - each of the words in CrazySexyCoolrelated to a different band member. T-Boz was the cool one, Chilli was sexy (courtesy of her smooth R&B styling) and Left Eye was crazy (because she once burned down her boyfriend's mansion in a row).

TLC have long campaigned to combat AIDS and Left Eye first got her name for taping a condom over her eye to promote safe sex in the band's early videos. Waterfalls was written as a response and emotional tribute to fans who would come up and tell the trio how much it meant to them that they were discussing AIDS and contraception, at a time when few others were.

People can contribute to this new Kickstarter campaign with pledges from £3.30 ($5), with high contributors being offered the opportunity of an exercise class with Chilli or even clothes from TLC's vintage music videos.

Remind yourself of their brilliance with one of their most classic hits (and our personal fave) in the video, below.